Dead treasure hunter’s loot of 899 artefacts returned to Irish museum

A TREASURE HUNTER’S loot of 899 artefacts have been handed back to the National Museum of Ireland after being tracked down in England.

The man, who died last May, operated in the Co. Tipperary area and worked closely with another man in the UK.

The antiquities came to light following a tip-off from the British Museum to the National Museum of Ireland that an important hoard of medieval silver coins from Ireland had been exported illegally to Britain.

Some objects were recovered by police in the UK, while the remaining objects were recovered in Ireland by the Garda Art and Antiques Unit.

Seamus Lynam, acting director of the National Museum of Ireland said the recovery shows there is a continuing threat to the portable archaeological heritage of Ireland by metal detectorists: “Many items similar to those recovered have been offered for sale in recent times over the internet and are the subject of on-going investigations. ”